Caramel apple cheesecake6 x 8 oils
copyright Jeanette Jobson
I played around with this slice of cheesecake tonight as I'd promised myself I would paint, no matter what. The colours, or my choice of them, are very bland. But so was the cheesecake - the whole thing was beige with no strong contrasts in either values or colour.
But I persevered and here it is.
Painting cheesecake is entirely Anita's fault. Seeing her comfort food being painted on her blog inspired me and I couldn't rest until I tackled some too. I will need to tweak it some more to get that crumbly topping to look as it should. But the overall values are just 'blah'. And it still looks like its floating a bit. And now that I look at it online, it looks like a piece of toast with peanut butter on it!
Oh I wish the colour fairy would come wave her magic wand over me and make me more adventurous with colours. What the hell, I'll just eat it and spruce up the painting later....
8 comments:
Hope it was good Jeanette!
And just to stake my claim...I've been calling on the colour fairy for months now...I just get some canned music and then a message "go back to monochrome dear, you have no future here." :D
I know you'll fare better with the illusive fairy - and I do think you are doing the right thing, just sticking with it - it'll all come back Jeanette. Rest assured, what you need to know is deep in that brain and heart of yours, it'll find its way out and until then, pass the cheesecake!
It wasn't bad actually....want some? :)
Perhaps we can negotiate with the colour fairy...a little bribery works wonders sometimes.
I think we'll both have success with it, it may just take a little trial and error. Thank God for dollar store canvas panels to practice on!
Have you ever sat down and made your own colour palette by systematic mixing of all your colours?
I think problems with colour tend to lie either with
- an inability to see them (and you never know you may be one of the many people who have a degree of colour blindness) or
- it's something to do with not realising the possibilities for colour that exist with their standard palette colours.
I think I'm good at seeing and using colour - but I must say I did benefit from my exercises in producing colour swatches earlier this year. Total attention to colour - and nothing to do with drawing/painting 'things'!
Of course the other thing is our 'hit rate' in terms of producing pieces which are acceptable to our eyes is never going to be 100%. I keep telling myself this one as I produce yet another yuk piece. I'm definitely in a bit of a low at the moment on the drawing front - not quite the slough of despond but enough to decide not to be tough on myself.
I make palettes of colour possibilities, prior to working on a piece. And I don't have this issue in other mediums. I work directly from the piece in oils and, yes, it is hit or miss. However, a few independent palette colour swatches could be a good idea.
I think a lot of it is lack of practice using the medium. I used to use oils exclusively years ago, and am now just getting back into them again. I know my colours, but seem to stay on the timid side with them when I know I want to be bolder and brighter and have more contrast.
HAHAHAHA Jeanette! My suggestion, from someone who has been in need of the colour fairy, is not to look at objects as being darker or lighter shades of the same colour. Rather look and see if you can see other colours. My example is in the pie I painted last night - I used cerulean blue and mixes of ultramarine and alizarin for the shadows on the pastry rather than browns. A pale blues and purples for lighter areas in the the pie filling rather than pale pink.
I think another piece of cheesecake is in order for tonight. A more colourful one. Thanks Anita.
When in doubt, eat your prey.
Then hunt for another victim.
:)
Jeanette, as you well know i just throw on the colors i want to see whether they're there in front of me or not. why not cut loose and use imagination and instinct? just my 2¢..........
Post a Comment